Qassim Suleimani was not assassinated.
No matter what the Democrats say. No matter what the evening news says. No matter what the actors or
football players say.
He was not assassinated. He was killed in battle.
He was an enemy combatant in a war zone.
And he was both those things by his own choice and action.
He became an enemy combatant by choosing to directly bring hostile force against Americans in uniform and out, not in one or two incidents, but over two decades. Units which he trained, supplied, funded and commanded engaged in military operations against servicemembers of the United States, resulting in the death of some 600 Americans and the maiming of at least that many more.
Further, in the 10 days before his death he ordered an armed assault against the American embassy in Baghdad in which small arms fire and mortar rounds were fired at diplomatic and military personnel of the United States.
That’s an enemy combatant.
It doesn’t matter how many Iranians love him, or how nicely he recites poetry, or how long he has been in office. Interviews with fawning western journalists do not make him a good guy. No amount of progressive hand wringing can undo the fact that some 600 American service men and women were killed at his command.
He was an enemy combatant.
And he was in a war zone.
And Baghdad was a war zone because of his choosing. When Suleimani attacked the American embassy in then-peaceful, civilian Baghdad just the week before his death, he determined that the Iraqi capital was a war zone. He put that place in play.
He sought to kill Americans in Baghdad, but was unsuccessful.
And the Americans, acting through President Donald Trump, struck back. In a move that should have been taken any number of times by the last two American presidents, the United States returned fire.
The United States stood up to the bully.
For too long, American actions on the world scene have been half measures and bluffs. One president drew a red line, and backed away from it. Another president saw his soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors killed and wounded by Iranian surrogates, and looked the other way. The ever-more impudent acts of men and nations with blood on their hands and hate in their hearts have met with American rhetoric, but not American steel.
We have condemned and sanctioned, and bent over and grabbed our ankles. And our enemies know this, despise this, and attack us.
And so it is that the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the person of Qassim Suleimani, launched a military attack against the sovereign territory of the United States – our embassy in Iraq – putting the lives of American diplomats and servicemembers in jeopardy.
Iran punched us in the nose, so we kicked it in the nuts.
You do that to show people that they better not punch you in the nose.
What Donald Trump did was send a message to the world that if you start it, we’ll finish it. He learned that from Franklin Roosevelt, and from the best instincts of American heritage and history.
He told the Iranians that this isn’t Benghazi and we’re not going to be their patsy.
And he told the world that provocations against the United States of America can come at a high price. We blew up a car in Baghdad, but the blast echoed in places like Beijing and Moscow, and anywhere else they have malice for the United States and our people.
When a leader stands up in the United Nations and says his philosophy is America First, you might want to tread lightly.
Swatting this particular fly put the world on notice that he meant what he said.
And that will be understood everywhere, except in the leadership of the Democratic Party and the progressive movement, where loving your country is seen as something between naive and bigoted.
Sadly, the progressive voices of America have decried the death of Suleimani, condemned the president for killing him, sought to keep him from taking any more defensive actions against Iran – and several have apologized to Iran.
The former quarterback said America always kills brown and black people to spread its colonial oppression, the singer said she was going to get Nigerian citizenship, the actor begged Iran’s forgiveness and said Americans live under a terrorist regime.
And any number of snowflakes crapped their pants over #WorldWarIII.
The speaker of the House and the Senate Minority leader and the various Democratic presidential candidates all called it an assassination and said that it was a provocation that could start a war with Iran.
It’s hard to know if they believe any of this, truthfulness not being a common trait among leftists, but if they do, they are mistaken and deluded.
Otherwise they are just lying to the American people, dividing and endangering us for their own political benefit.
Because Donald Trump didn’t start a war with Iran. Iran has been at war with us since 1979.
What Donald Trump did was inform the Iranians – and the world – that the United States is finally going to fight back.
Which will go a long way toward making the world a much more peaceful place.